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Syracuse Mayoral Race: What Voters Want

Voters state Jobs & the Economy as single most important issue; Select Ben Walsh as a top candidate to take charge

As we enter into the final few weeks before the 2017 election, the Upstate Jobs Party is proud to see UJP candidate Ben Walsh #RiseAbove.

According to a new poll (see below) from Syracuse.com / Spectrum News / Siena College, the Syracuse mayoral race has been narrowed down to two candidates who are within striking distance of each other. The poll was conducted earlier this month, and received 571 responses from likely Syracuse voters.

The poll reveals that Democrat Perez-Williams (35 percent) and Ben Walsh (28 percent) are the clear frontrunners in the 2017 election. The poll is reported to have a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points. However even with the margin, experts believe candidates from the Republican Party (9 percent), Working Families Party (9 percent) and Green Party (5 percent) face too substantial a lift to claim the title come election day on November 7.

Now it all comes down to the 14 percent of voters in Syracuse who are still undecided, commented Steve Greenberg, Siena College Research Institute spokesman. “We have a very interesting non-traditional close race for mayor,” he added in a story published by Syracuse.com.

Your vote speaks volume

As the city of Syracuse continues to decline in population and retain one of the highest poverty rates in the nation, the results from this independent survey show the majority of likely voters are ready for change. They believe the city is on a downward spiral, and want to support a candidate who they feel will create the most positive impact on the future of Syracuse – starting with the economy.

The poll uncovered that JOBS is the single most important issue voters would like the next mayor to address first. Ben Walsh was selected as a top candidate to spearhead this effort.

When asked about the ability to obtain a suitable job in Syracuse, and which candidate would best help the city’s employment rate, voters again voted strongly for Ben Walsh.

Here are some additional poll highlights:

Ben Walsh received the majority of Republican votes (37%)

Walsh leading candidate among independent votes not enrolled in a political party (45%)

Walsh viewed favorable with the majority of voters (52%)

Ben Walsh has a plan to create More Upstate Jobs

Last week, Ben Walsh united with owners of a variety of local Syracuse businesses. A small handful of the businesses represented included TCG Player, Digital Hyve, Hueber Breuer and Gardner & Capparelli.

Ben discussed his plan to create jobs for Syracuse citizens, and his commitment to hiring local talent. He prefaced his excitement for putting more young people to work in the city of Syracuse. The plan involves CNY Works, an organization that collaborates with community partners to help make the employment goals of job seekers and businesses a reality. One initiative in that CNY Works organizes is a summer youth employment program, which helps employ 175 young people (ages 16-24) to work for local organizations and companies.

While Ben believes this is excellent, under his Jobs Plan, Ben would seek to double the size of the CNY Works Summer Youth Program. “They [CNY Works] receive 1200 applications, and are forced to turn down about ⅔ of the people looking for jobs,” said Ben Walsh. “We have the resources right now that come from New York state through the Alliance of Economic Solutions. CNY Works is prepared to to apply for a grant, which will allow them to employ 475 more youth in the city.”

Ben has also been in discussion with On Point for College. This organization helps low-income traditional and nontraditional students overcome the barriers to higher education. Ben announced that On Point will also apply for funds. This funding will support the expansion of their Winter Internship Program for college students home on break.

Ben says both CNY Works and On Point are looking to work together in this effort to help students develop a strong network, and put them in position, long term, to pursue local career opportunities. The dozen plus businesses who joined Ben at the event will join his Jobs Plan by bringing young people into their businesses. If elected as the Mayor of Syracuse, Ben says he will also do his part as a representative for the city, one of the largest employers in Syracuse.

“I pride myself in the ability to bring people together and get things done,” added Ben.

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Martin Babinec is a serial entrepreneur, venture catalyst and job creator. He founded TriNet, a publicly traded company that employs over 2,500 people across the U.S. and help small businesses with a cloud based Human Resources solution. He founded and Chairs IntroNet Corporation, a software platform that helps members of a group connect to resources and further grow the job creation environment. In 2010, Martin founded Upstate Venture Connect, a 501c3 nonprofit public benefit corporation dedicated to accelerating the creation and growth of emerging companies by helping entrepreneurs get connected to the resources who can help them. He serves as UVC Chairman and a volunteer. He’s also the co-founder of StartFast Venture Accelerator, which invests in and helps guide high-growth companies in Central New York. Through his Upstate Ventures portfolio, Martin has invested in dozens of New York based startups both directly and through several seed capital funds, which UVC helped create, to engage local business people in supporting Upstate startup companies.